[Chapter 778: I Have a Cleanliness Obsession]
The soundproofing in the master bedroom of the villa was excellent, so no water noises could be heard.
Eric picked up the remote control and changed the TV channel, keeping his horror novel in hand, occasionally glancing at the screen, effortlessly multitasking.
About half an hour later, the bedroom door opened, and Miranda Kerr emerged, wearing only a shirt that barely covered her thighs. Her long, tanned legs exuded a healthy glow. Her damp brown hair fell loosely, with a few dyed blonde strands framing her face, giving her a unique look.
The girl nimbly jumped onto the big bed and crawled next to Eric, looking up at him and asking, "Eric, am I pretty?"
Eric shrugged and nonchalantly replied, "I prefer girls with fair skin; you're too dark."
Miranda argued back, "No way! This is healthy. A lot of my classmates envy me," she said, rolling up her sleeve and extending her arm in front of Eric. "Feel it! My skin is better than that of many girls."
Eric wasn't interested in debating such trivial matters. He took a glance and shrugged it off, muttering, "Yeah, sure."
Seeing that Eric seemed uninterested, Miranda rested her chin on her hand and smiled at him, saying, "You can touch other places, just no other things."
Eric ignored her, put down his book, grabbed the remote, and turned off the TV. "Well, we've chatted and you've taken a bath. It's time for you to go to sleep."
Miranda snatched the remote away and turned the TV back on. "Just let me stay a little longer. I won't bite."
He noticed Miranda was channel surfing and had unknowingly landed on HBO's sub-channel Max After Dark, which made him roll his eyes. "Do you know what channel this is?"
"Of course, I'm not a kid," Miranda huffed, adopting a mature posture. However, when inappropriate scenes flashed on the screen, her cheeks immediately flushed red. She quickly changed the channel to the Disney Channel instead.
The TV aired a children's sitcom developed by Disney the previous year. Although it was aimed at children ages six to twelve, Miranda found it engaging and watched a brief twenty-minute episode. When the next program was a cartoon, seeing that Eric really wasn't making any advances, Miranda felt a bit disappointed. Was her appeal not enough?
"Eric, you're not at all what I expected."
Eric mumbled, "Hmm?"
"You don't feel like the rich guy I imagined."
Eric asked, "What do you imagine I should be like?"
Miranda hesitated, unable to answer that question.
Eric smiled; ordinary people always imagined the lifestyles of the wealthy as extravagant and mysterious, but in reality, it wasn't that high-key. He recalled a phone conversation he had with Chris a few days earlier, where they discussed Warren Buffett.
After a few parties last year, Chris had gotten to know Buffett better, who had taken a liking to this young investor. Their casual interactions had turned into an unlikely friendship.
Chris recounted his first visit to Omaha to see Buffett last month. Although Buffett's frugal lifestyle was well known, Chris found it astonishing firsthand.
Buffett's home was a modest apartment, no different from those of most middle-class Americans, with an old mini-truck parked outside that cost less than twenty thousand dollars. The lunch invitation with Buffett took place at a regular steakhouse; they spent a total of sixteen dollars, including tip. Berkshire Hathaway's office in Omaha also looked rather humble, with fewer than ten employees including Buffett himself. It didn't seem like a company valued in the tens of billions.
Though Buffett's example might be extreme, Eric had observed over his years that aside from a few wealthy individuals who loved extravagant lifestyles, most rich people's lives were not as ostentatious as the public imagined.
...
Next morning, after washing up, Miranda followed Eric for a jog around the estate and then helped him prepare breakfast.
Terese woke up just before seven-thirty. When she saw that both Eric and their daughter were up, she felt a bit apologetic. It seems she didn't notice her daughter sneaking out and sneaking back in last night.
After breakfast, Eric obviously wouldn't leave the little rascal to cause trouble at the estate. He took both mother and daughter to the Burbank headquarters, instructing an assistant to handle arrangements for Miranda's host family and school while he returned to his regular work.
During the intense casting process for Casino Royale, Lifetime's first season of Project Runway finally reached its conclusion at the end of February. Although the last episode didn't surpass the ratings of last year's finale of America's Next Top Model, it still drew an audience of 6.5 million viewers, prompting A&E Networks to host a celebratory gathering.
At the same time, the first episode of Sex and the City aired, Project Runway serving as a lead-in for it.
...
Even before its premiere, thanks to its positive buzz during the pilot, Lifetime had conducted a two-month promotional campaign. The original novel, which had seen modest popularity, even rocketed to the top twenty on the New York Times bestseller list.
While Lifetime was a basic cable network, even if it aired daring TV programs, the FCC usually didn't intervene unless something was outrageously scandalous. However, basic cable still aimed at all ages, so to avoid backlash from parents leading to cancellations, their programming was relatively restrained.
The original version of Sex and the City, which had previously aired on HBO, featured many explicit scenes. Yet, due to the constraints of basic cable's unspoken rules, the new version could not just replicate that. The show's real draw was never about nudity; instead, it centered around urban women's analysis and reflections on life, sex, fashion, and love.
Indeed, female viewers continued showing great enthusiasm for the new version of Sex and the City. Riding the popularity from the finale of Project Runway, the premiere episode of the new show garnered an audience of 3.9 million -- much better than those of both America's Next Top Model and Project Runway's launches.
After the first episode aired, most media outlets praised this bold, edgy series that had a smart yet slightly coy tone. As its popularity spread, the second episode's viewership quickly surpassed 4.3 million.
Once the tone for the excellent series Sex and the City was set, Lifetime, in collaboration with Hearst magazines, the entertainment and fashion section of Yahoo, and relevant programs on ABC, quietly launched the second phase of its viral marketing.
Unbeknownst to many, urban women interested in fashion began to frequently notice the name Sex and the City. Whether through famous fashion magazines like ELLE and HARPER'S BAZAAR under Hearst or fashion segments on Yahoo or fashionable talk shows on ABC, countless analyses and discussions arose about the wardrobes, accessories, makeup, and shoes of the four female leads. The tones used in most articles were filled with admiration, filling it with a sense that the style of these characters had become synonymous with fashion.
There's a well-known saying in the fashion world that if a respected fashion media outlet randomly picks a piece of clothing from a rack, whether it's a vintage style from decades ago or a surprisingly Bohemian piece, and if they stand firm in declaring it as the upcoming season's must-have item to a million people, it will indeed become the season's trending attire.
While they understood this rule, the producers of Sex and the City weren't about to take such a straightforward and crude approach.
During production, they brought in well-known fashion consultants specifically to guide the leads on style. With combined efforts of relentless viral marketing, the four main actresses of Sex and the City quickly became trendsetters in urban fashion, rapidly amassing a large female fan base.
Previously, Sex and the City, at its peak, had attracted over 40% of its audience from women, highlighting its powerful influence among them. Lifetime's barrier to entry was much lower than expensive HBO, and with the show's soaring popularity, when the fourth episode aired, ratings had already surpassed 5 million.
...
Simultaneously, Cindy Crawford's season two of America's Next Top Model made a strong return the same week that Sex and the City's fourth episode aired. While the first episode didn't break the record set by last year's finale, which drew 6.8 million viewers, its premiere of 6.5 million was still commendable.
In reality, competition-based reality shows often see record-breaking viewership during finales, much like Survivor's miraculous finale of 56 million viewers. As such, America's Next Top Model's first season averaged 4.96 million viewers, narrowly missing the 5 million mark, but the strong premiere of 6.5 million indicated that this popular model reality show's second season would likely maintain an average viewership of over 6 million. In the current landscape, where the four major broadcast networks dominated most viewers, only a handful of cable shows across North America could boast consistent viewership above 6 million.
*****
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